Matthew Prior

Matthew Prior (July 21, 1664 – September 18, 1721) was an English poet and diplomat.

Quotes

 * Our hopes, like towering falcons, aim At objects in an airy height; The little pleasure of the game Is from afar to view the flight.
 * To the Honorable Charles Montague (1692).


 * From ignorance our comfort flows. The only wretched are the wise.
 * To the Honorable Charles Montague (1692).


 * That if weak women went astray, Their stars were more in fault than they.
 * Hans Carvel (1700).


 * The end must justify the means.
 * Hans Carvel (1700).


 * Forbear to mention what thou canst not praise.
 * Carmen Seculare (1700).


 * Soft peace she brings; wherever she arrives She builds our quiet as she forms our lives; Lays the rough paths of peevish Nature even, And opens in each heart a little heaven.
 * Charity (1703).


 * Be to her virtues very kind; Be to her faults a little blind; Let all her ways be unconfined; And clap your padlock &mdash; on her mind!
 * An English Padlock (1707).


 * And thought the nation ne'er would thrive Till all the whores were burnt alive.
 * Paulo Purganti and His Wife (1708).


 * He ranged his tropes, and preached up patience; Backed his opinion with quotations.
 * Paulo Purganti and His Wife (1708).


 * Cured yesterday of my disease, I died last night of my physician.
 * The Remedy Worse than the Disease (1714).


 * Now fitted the halter, now traversed the cart, And often took leave, but was loth to depart.
 * The Thief and the Cordelier (1718).


 * His noble negligences teach What others' toils despair to reach.
 * Alma, Canto II, l. 7 (1718).


 * Till their own dreams at length decive 'em, And oft repeating, they believe 'em.
 * Alma, Canto III, l. 13 (1718).


 * To John I owed great obligation; But John, unhappily, thought fit To publish it to all the nation: Sure John and I are more than quit.
 * Epigram (1718).


 * Venus, take my votive glass; Since I am not what I was, What from this day I shall be, Venus, let me never see.
 * The Lady Who Offers Her Looking-Glass to Venus (1718).


 * Nobles and heralds, by your leave, Here lies what once was Matthew Prior; The son of Adam and of Eve: Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher?
 * Epitaph (1721).


 * All jargon of the schools.
 * I am that I am, An Ode; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).


 * Odds life! must one swear to the truth of a song?
 * A Better Answer; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).


 * They never taste who always drink; They always talk who never think.
 * Upon a passage in the Scaligerana; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).


 * That air and harmony of shape express, Fine by degrees, and beautifully less.
 * Henry and Emma; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).


 * Abra was ready ere I called her name; And though I called another, Abra came.
 * Solomon on the Vanity of the World, book ii, line 364; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).


 * For hope is but the dream of those that wake.
 * Solomon on the Vanity of the World, book iii, line 102; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).


 * Who breathes must suffer, and who thinks must mourn; And he alone is bless'd who ne'er was born.
 * Solomon on the Vanity of the World, book iii, line 240; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).


 * A Rechabite poor Will must live, And drink of Adam's ale.
 * The Wandering Pilgrim.; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'', 10th ed. (1919).